A whole-genome assembly of the domestic cow, Bos taurus

Genome Biol. 2009;10(4):R42. doi: 10.1186/gb-2009-10-4-r42. Epub 2009 Apr 24.

Abstract

Background: The genome of the domestic cow, Bos taurus, was sequenced using a mixture of hierarchical and whole-genome shotgun sequencing methods.

Results: We have assembled the 35 million sequence reads and applied a variety of assembly improvement techniques, creating an assembly of 2.86 billion base pairs that has multiple improvements over previous assemblies: it is more complete, covering more of the genome; thousands of gaps have been closed; many erroneous inversions, deletions, and translocations have been corrected; and thousands of single-nucleotide errors have been corrected. Our evaluation using independent metrics demonstrates that the resulting assembly is substantially more accurate and complete than alternative versions.

Conclusions: By using independent mapping data and conserved synteny between the cow and human genomes, we were able to construct an assembly with excellent large-scale contiguity in which a large majority (approximately 91%) of the genome has been placed onto the 30 B. taurus chromosomes. We constructed a new cow-human synteny map that expands upon previous maps. We also identified for the first time a portion of the B. taurus Y chromosome.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cattle / genetics*
  • Chromosome Mapping
  • Female
  • Genome / genetics*
  • Genome, Human / genetics
  • Genomics
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA / methods*
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA / statistics & numerical data
  • Synteny
  • Y Chromosome / genetics